Toward Imagination
GA 169
13 June 1916, Berlin
2. Blood and Nerves
In spiritual science we consider all matter or substance to be a manifestation of the spiritual. But the essential question is always how a particular material phenomenon manifests the spiritual. The generalization that all matter is a manifestation of the spiritual really says nothing at all; at most it is an easy philosophy for lazy people. All those who seriously strive for knowledge have to study how the world's specific material phenomena manifest the spiritual.
There is a very ancient, yet ever new, saying to the effect that the human being is a microcosm. Human beings in the physical world are, in the first place, material phenomena. If we seriously believe that the human being is a microcosm, that our physical being contains the secrets of the whole cosmos, then we will think it worthwhile to examine how our physical being reveals the spiritual. If you study the physical aspect of the human being and think about it and you'll have to think if you strive for knowledge—you will see there are two totally different kinds of substance in our physical being. It only takes ordinary thinking and observation to see that there are two fundamentally different kinds of substance in us: the blood substance, or blood material, and the nerve substance.
Of course, you may say that at first glance there are all sorts of other substances too, muscle tissue, bone matter, and so on. But all these substances are actually built up from blood, as you will see when you study them more closely. Thus, their existence does not contradict that we have primarily two substances in us, blood substance, or blood material, and nerve substance.
One of the differences between these two substances can easily be observed; you need only consider that everything connected with the blood is involved from the inside, so to speak, in our metabolic processes. Though generated as a result of external influences, our blood is produced within us, and it in turn generates what is necessary for physical existence.
On the other hand, the most important nerves show themselves to be continuations of our sense organs. For instance, in the eyes you find the optic nerve continuing behind the eye and merging with the nerve substance of the brain. Similarly, all nerves are really continuations of our sense organs. The processes taking place in them are more or less the result of outside influences, of everything working upon us from the outside. We can say that just as magnets have two poles and just as we have positive and negative electricity, so the blood and the nerve substances are the two poles of our physical being. And these two kinds of substance are inwardly very different from each other.
If we perform an autopsy on a human being according to the methods and teachings of modern anatomy and physiology, we can put everything originating directly out of the blood next to everything built up from the outside, namely the nerve substance. Then the substances would appear to be the same. In fact, they are fundamentally different. The great and significant difference between them becomes clear if we trace the gradual development of life. We could quote a great deal from the most modern anatomy and physiology to provide further proof of this difference; however, we will not go into that right now but look at the question from the point of view of spiritual science instead.
Our blood has entered our organism as a result of processes belonging specifically to the earth. Blood is essentially of an earthly nature. You know that the development of the human being had been prepared long before the earth existed during the Saturn, Sun, and Moon phases of evolution.1These names do not refer to present-day planets but to ancient evolutionary stages and are therefore capitalized. What was prepared there did not yet have any blood. Human blood, as it flows through our veins today, was added during our earth evolution. In contrast to that, the structure and development of the nervous system contains what had long ago been prepared in the Saturn, Sun, and Moon phases of evolution through processes that preceded our earth organization.
If you investigate both the blood substance and the nerve substance in the light of spiritual science, you will readily see the tremendous difference between the two. Our nerve substance is not of the earth, but the blood substance is of the earth. Nerve substance originated in processes that took place before the formation of the earth. Our blood substance, and everything that streams and flows in it, has its origin completely in earthly processes. Our nerve substance is absolutely extraterrestrial, so to speak, and woven into us as something cosmic; it is related to the cosmos.
Our nerve substance has been transferred into the earthly realm; it exists here on the earth where we live as physical beings. Thus, we all bear something of extraterrestrial origin in us that has been transplanted onto the earth. This is a very important fact, for the nerve substance, as it rests in us, is actually dead. You need only open any current anatomy or physiology textbook to see that in terms of substance, nerve substance is the most durable in our body. It is the one most resistant to change and, like the blood substance, least subject to direct, mechanical interference from the outside. Our nerve substance is affected by influences of our sense perceptions, but it cannot be influenced directly and mechanically because it was originally a living substance and is now dead because we as earth beings carry it in us. We might say if it were not paradoxical—though it is true in a spiritual sense regardless of any paradox—that if we could take our nerve substance and raise it to a sphere beyond the influence of earth forces, it would become a marvelous, living, vibrant being.
This nerve substance is, so to speak, designed for life in the heavens, in the extraterrestrial realm, but because it is in our organism and has thus entered the earthly sphere, it dies. This is very strange, isn't it? We have this nerve substance in us that is alive in the realm of the cosmos but dead in the realm of the earth. If we were to take some of this nerve substance up beyond the reach of earthly influences, we would have a wonderful, living, luminous substance. Of course, as soon as we returned it to our earthly sphere, it would revert again to the still, lifeless condition in which it now rests within us. Our nerve substance, then, is alive in the cosmos and dead on earth.
In fact, as far as its material composition is concerned, the nerve substance we have in us is an extraterrestrial element. All this can be very clearly expressed in a symbol. As you remember, I once lectured here on anthroposophy in a more specific sense and listed the human senses. Usually people distinguish only five senses, but we counted twelve then. Human beings have twelve senses if everything that can really be called a sense is taken into account. Ultimately, our senses are nothing but points of departure from which our nerves extend into us.
So, we really have twelve senses. And from these twelve senses nerves extend into us like little trees. This is because the nervous system that belongs to our outer senses is the expression of the passage of the sun through the twelve constellations of the zodiac, which is symbolized in the relation of our entire nervous system to each of the twelve senses. This shows that we carry in us, in the spatial relationship of our total nervous system to the twelve senses, what really exists out there in the cosmos in the sun's passage through the constellations of the zodiac.
When you look at that part of our nervous system located deeper inside us in the spinal cord, you will find the nerve fibers extending through the ring-like vertebrae of the spine. These rings in fact correspond to the months, to the orbit of the moon around the earth. Thus, the passage of each nerve fiber through the opening of the vertebrae in the spine corresponds to each day of the month—another cosmic relationship! The orbit of the moon around the earth is really symbolized in the relationship of our inner nerves to the spinal cord. Our nerve substance is entirely built up out of the heavens, out of the cosmos. We can understand this marvelous organization of the nerve substance within us only when we see in its tree-like arrangement an image of the whole starry firmament. And the forces that flow outside from star to star and express themselves in the movements of the heavenly bodies, those same forces actually flow in our nervous system, which is, however, dead in us. This connection between the organization of the cosmos and the structure of our nervous system, like many other things, reveals that the whole universe is manifest in us. Insofar as our nervous system is built for the heavens, it is alive in the heavens, in the cosmos, but it is dead in us because it has entered the earthly sphere.
Our blood substance is quite different because it belongs entirely to the earth. Due to the inner composition of the blood, the processes taking place in it would really have to be completely earthly processes. The peculiar thing about them, however, is that they are not living processes. As you know, the mineral realm, the lifeless kingdom, developed during evolution on the earth. And the nature of our blood corresponds fully to this lifeless kingdom. Although our blood lives as long as it is in us, it is not destined for life by its inner, earthly nature. Strangely enough, our blood is alive only because it is connected to the cosmic element in us. Our nervous system is actually destined for life in the cosmos beyond the earth but is dead inside us; our blood, on the other hand, is meant to be dead in us and receives its life from outside. In a sense, the nervous system yields its life to the blood. Thus, the nervous system is dead while the blood is alive, comparatively speaking. Our blood is by its very nature dead on earth and has only a borrowed life, a cosmic life forced upon it. Life itself is not at all of our earth. That is why the nervous system must take death upon itself in order to become earthly, and why the blood has to become living to enable us as beings of earthly substance to turn to the world beyond the earth.
This is the point where all we have learned through spiritual science takes on a deeply serious character. For we have to realize that the nerve substance we have in us is by its very nature destined for life, and yet it is dead. Why is that? It is dead because it has been transplanted onto the earth. Death—as you can read in the cycle of lectures I gave in Munich—is actually the kingdom of Ahriman.2Rudolf Steiner, Secrets of the Threshold, (Hudson, NY: Anthro- posophic Press, 1987). Thus, be cause our nervous system lost its life in its descent into the earthly sphere, we carry an ahrimanic element in us. And because our blood is alive—though by its very nature destined for death, that is, for mere chemical and physical processes—we have a luciferic element in us. Ahriman can exist in us because our nervous system is dead, and because our blood is alive, Lucifer can live in us. Now you can see the significant differences between these two substances; they are polar opposites, just as the North Pole is to the South Pole.
Let us now consider the realm beyond the earth, not condensing spiritual science into an abstract theory but keeping it alive so it can speak to our feelings. We look out into the universe and realize that out there is the spirit that could live in our nervous system if the latter had not descended to the earth. We can sense the spirit out there, filling the universe, the spirit belonging to our nervous system. When we then turn our thoughts to our blood, we understand that by its very nature it is actually destined only for physical and chemical processes, only for the assimilation of oxygen as it is described by anatomy and physiology. However, because it lives in us, it participates in the life of the cosmos. It has, however, a primarily luciferic life.
And now think deeply and with great sensitivity of a recurrent common theme of our talks and remember all we have said about the descent of Christ from the cosmos into our earthly sphere. Then we can link what we remember with the thoughts we have just discussed. We ourselves originated in this universe, in the cosmos. Long ago, in the Lemurian epoch, or in the course of earthly evolution in general, we descended and have connected our evolution with the earth. But by entrusting the development of our nervous system to the earth, we have consigned it to death and left its life behind in the cosmos. That life we left behind later followed us and descended in the Christ Being. In other words, the life of our nerves, which we have not been able to bear in us ever since the beginning of our earthly existence, followed us later in the Christ Being. And what did that life have to lay hold of in earthly existence?
It had to lay hold of the blood! That is why we talk so much about the mystery of blood.
Our nervous system lost its cosmic life and our blood received a cosmic life, that is, life became death and death became life. They live separately in us. Yet, a new connection between them was achieved when the life of our nervous system, which had been left behind, descended to us from the cosmos, became human and entered the blood, which in turn united itself with the earth, as I have explained before.3Rudolf Steiner, The Gospel of St. Luke, 3rd ed, (London: Rudolf Steiner Press, 1988). And now we as human beings can reconcile the contrast between blood system and nervous system through our participation in the Christ Mystery.
The polarity we carry in us manifests in various ways. For instance, there is the material science of the outer world. It has found its culmination, its goal, in present-day natural science, which sees the world as built up out of atoms. These atoms, however, are pure fantasy; they are simply not to be found out there. Why then do we talk about atoms? Because we have in us our nervous system built up out of little globules, and we project this structure on the world outside. The world of atoms out there is nothing but a projection of our nervous system! We project ourselves into the world and thus think of it as consisting of atoms, and of our nervous system as composed of many individual ganglion-globules. Science will always tend to atomism for it originates in nerve substance. By contrast, mysticism, religion, and so forth come from the blood and do not look for atoms but always for unity. These two opposites are in conflict with each other in the world. We do not understand their conflict unless we know it is really the struggle in us between nerve substance and blood substance. There would be no conflict between science and religion if there were none in us between nerve and blood substance.
Reconciliation is found if we unite ourselves in the right way with the Christ Being that pulsates through the earth since the Mystery of Golgotha. Every feeling and experience we can have in connection with the Mystery of Golgotha contributes to this reconciliation. We have not yet advanced much in bringing about this reconciliation, but we must continue to strive for it. Even in our circles we see very often that the contrast I described manifests in one way or another. There are many among us who listen to the teachings of anthroposophy and accept them as they would accept conventional science. As a result, many people see no difference between anthroposophy and ordinary science. But we understand anthroposophy rightly only when we grasp it not just with the head, but allow every one of its utterances to kindle our enthusiasm and to live in us so that it finds its way from the nerve system to the blood system. Only when we take warmly to the truths contained in anthroposophy do we really understand it. As long as we approach it abstractly and study it as we study the multiplication tables, an arithmetic book, instruction manuals, or a cookbook, we do not understand it at all! We cannot understand anthroposophy if we study it in the same way as chemistry or botany. Only when it generates warmth in us, replenishes us with its own vibrant life, do we begin to really understand it.
Christ said: “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” And He is with us not as one who is dead, but as a living Being among us, revealing Himself continuously. And only people so shortsighted as to fear these revelations can want us to stay with what has always held good in the past. Those who are not cowards know Christ is always revealing Himself; therefore, we may accept what He has revealed in the form of anthroposophy as a true Christ-revelation. Members have often asked me how they can establish a relationship with Christ. This is a naive question; for everything we strive for, every line we read of our anthroposophical science, is an entering into a relationship with Christ. In a certain sense, we really do nothing else. And those who seek an additional, special way of entering into a relationship with Christ are only naively expressing that they would prefer to avoid the more troublesome way of reading and studying.
My talk began like a conventional scientific talk, maybe one about anatomy or physiology, by looking at the substances in the human being, but now we find the transition to the loftiest knowledge we can have on earth: to Christology. You cannot find this transition in any other science. Spiritual science shows you that our nerve substance lost something in becoming earthly substance. But where is what our nerve substance lost? When Jesus of Nazareth was thirty years old, Christ entered his body and went through the Mystery of Golgotha. Try to warm yourselves through and through with this thought. What is lacking in our nervous system because we are living on earth, what has been replaced with an ahrimanic element, is what we find in the Mystery of Golgotha.
It is our task as human beings to take this Mystery into our blood to fill the luciferic element there with Christ, to kindle our enthusiasm so that it can live in us. Our abstract thinking is connected to the nerve substance, while our feelings, our heart and soul, enthusiasm, or mood, are connected to the blood. The relationship between nerve substance and blood substance in our organism is the same as that in our soul between abstract, cold thinking and the enthusiasm we can feel when things do not remain merely cold thoughts for us, but warm us through the spirit. This warming through the spirit does not come naturally; we have to train ourselves to attain it.
Now you can see in spiritual and physiological terms as it were, what the Mystery of Golgotha accomplished. What we had left behind in the cosmos followed us. It can now once again permeate our soul, because it did not permeate our body at the beginning of our earth existence, or we would have become automatons of the spirit. As it was, we went through a period of evolution on the earth before we were to be ensouled by what did not permeate our body right from the very beginning. This great and wonderful connection reveals the activity of the spiritual in matter.
We are not speaking here of the general, vague spiritual element woolly-headed pantheists speak of so glibly, but of the specific and definite spirit we see undergoing the Mystery of Golgotha. That is what I meant when I said that the general truism that all matter is a manifestation of the spiritual really does not say very much. We know something only when we know in detail how a specific, physical being manifests the spiritual. The findings of conventional science are an abundance of facts and material just waiting to be permeated with spiritual understanding. Spiritual understanding can penetrate them so deeply that even the most material science of all can be connected with Christology.
In our age people have difficulties finding the path connecting the nerve system with the blood system. And that is why I have shown you in several lectures how far our age is from such a spiritual understanding of the world. Last time I mentioned Hermann Bahr as an example of a man who had always been striving for the spiritual but was not able to make even the most elementary approach to the spiritual until he was already over fifty years old. I also told you that grotesque phenomena virtually dominate our cultural life, as in the case of the professor of philosophy in Czernowitz whose pronouncement I read to you.
Lest we forget his pronouncement, let me read it again: “We have no more philosophy than animals, and only our frantic attempts to attain a philosophy and the final resignation to our ignorance distinguish us from the animals.” This is the quintessence of his philosophy—well, one cannot really call it philosophy; after all, according to this professor of philosophy, human beings have no more philosophy than the animals! What it amounts to is that we have reached the point where duly appointed professors of philosophy have set themselves the task of representing philosophy as ridiculous nonsense. In this case, we can see clearly how far this fellow goes. Most other philosophers do the same, only not as openly. And this truth applies not only to philosophers ut also to other people who understand their task in life a out as much as this philosopher does his philosophy. Therefore, they ruin every task they are appointed to fulfill as much as this philosopher ruins philosophy. However, with most of them this is not so noticeable except when they rub our noses in it as cynically as Richard Wahle does, this philosopher appointed as professor of philosophy for the destruction of philosophy.
Clearly, it is necessary—to be convinced of this necessity you need only remember my lecture a few weeks ago—to connect our striving with the era in European spiritual life when people tried to approach the spirit, although not yet with the methods of modern spiritual science. For this reason, I have given the lectures of the past winters in these difficult times and have now collected them in a book entitled Vom Menschenrätsel The Riddle of Man”), which will be published shortly.4Rudolf Steiner, Vom Menschenrätsel (“The Riddle of Man”), vol. 20 in the Collected Works, (Domach, Switzerland: Rudolf Steiner Verlag, 1984). This book summarizes the thinking, reflections, and contemplations of several great minds of the nineteenth century, who were striving for knowledge of the spirit though not yet with the methods of modern spiritual science. I tried to show how these great minds reached out toward the spirit even though they could not yet get there. Time will tell whether this collection of the lectures of the past winters will prove too difficult for people, even though it was written as simply as possible, and whether they will, after all, be content with merely buying it. But the important thing is to read it! Time will tell whether this book, which was written only to serve the times, will have any effect, whether it will enter into people's souls. It is a book everyone can use to prove to those outside our movement that spiritual science represents a demand of the best minds of our recent past. It did not develop arbitrarily, but is truly what the best minds have called for.
Thus, I would like to suggest that you read some of the great, spiritual works our great writers created in the nineteenth century; they are magnificent and important works. However, such good intentions often turn out strangely. As I indicated elsewhere and therefore did not repeat in this book, among the greatest of these works are the philosophical writings of Schiller, for instance, his Letters the Aesthetic Education of Man.5Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, 1759–1805, German poet, playwright, and critic. Wrote Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man (1795). Indeed, those who have read these letters with deep sympathy have done a great deal for the life of their soul. Several people have made efforts to draw the public's attention to the philosophical writings of Schiller. One of them was Heinrich Deinhardt from Vienna.6Heinrich Deinhardt, often mentioned by Steiner. No biographical information available. His Beiträge zur Würdigung Schillers (“Contributions to the Appreciation of Schiller”) were reissued in 1922 in Stuttgart. In the 1860s, he wrote a splendid, extraordinarily profound little book on Schiller's world view. I don't think you can still get it in bookstores, except possibly an old, used copy in a second-hand store. It is out of print and was probably remaindered a long time ago, for nobody read what Deinhardt had to say about Schiller even though his book is one of the best things written about Schiller. Deinhardt was a teacher in Vienna whom the world has forgotten. He once had the misfortune to break his leg. Although his broken leg was set carefully, he could not get well again because he was undernourished. This man wrote one of the best books on Schiller, doubtlessly better than all the nonsense written since then, and yet he had to starve. That's the way of the world.
With my book I tried to show the relevance of great minds such as Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, Troxler, Planck, Preuss, Immanuel Hermann Fichte and a few others for our age.7Johann Gottlieb Fichte, 1762–1814, German philosopher.
Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, 1775–1854, German philosopher. Leading figure of German idealism. Clashed with Fichte and later also with Hegel. Wrote on Transcendental Idealism.
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, 1770–1831, German philosopher. Last of the great German Idealist system-building philosophers. Created monistic system reconciling opposites by means of dialectic process. Viewed history as similar process, dialectic of thesis an its implied antithesis leading to synthesis. Exerted influence on Existentialists, Positivists, and Marx.
Immanuel Hermann von Fichte, 1796–1879, son of Johann Got- t ie . Philosopher, exponent of an ethical or speculative theism. Their works provide a completely different kind of nourishment for the soul than the writings people so often turn to in their sincere but misguided quest for the spirit. With an aching heart I have seen again and again sincerely seeking people reach for this or that book in order to find nourishment for their soul and to find a way into the spiritual world. If they had only turned to works such as Schelling's Klara or Bruno, they would have received infinite nourishment for their soul. Granted, it would have required some effort, but that would have been good for them. A certain naive searching of souls has become more and more lively and urgent in recent times. Yet, most people only reach for the soul-gunk produced by Ralph Waldo Trine or for the stuff you get when you lace some formulation or other of Buddhism, Brahminism, or something like that with a sticky sauce.8Ralph Waldo Trine, American spiritualistic writer. One can have the strangest experiences with such things. For example, I used to know a very dear man—he died recently here in Berlin—who was very enthusiastic about my writings interpreting Goethe when I first published them. Then as he grew older, he began translating a number of such soul-gunk writings, not Ralph Waldo Trine but others, from American English into German—his earlier enthusiasm evidently having been only a flash in the pan. For a long time there, people here in Europe thought they needed American-English nourishment for their souls.
Let us get a sense for what needs to be done to nourish people's souls. In the book I mentioned and also in the booklet Mission of Spiritual Science, which has just been published, I tried to show what can be given even to those who are not members of our circle.9Rudolf Steiner, Die Aufgabe der Geisteswissenschaft und deren Bau in Dornach (“The Mission of Spiritual Science and its Building in Dornach”), Berlin, 1916. We can certainly hand this booklet to people who are not part of our circle. Then time will tell whether there is any understanding for the task devolving on anyone who has some idea of how necessary it is that spiritual truths stream into our present age.
I can assure you I have not merely made this or that disparaging statement in what I have said to you during these difficult times, but I have substantiated everything with details and verified it. I have not merely said philosophers are only homunculi but have quoted a particularly characteristic statement and a number of other things to give you an idea of how matters really stand and to show you that in this first third of our fifth post-Atlantean epoch everything tends to develop into homunculism, into spiritual emptiness.
People will have to penetrate more and more deeply into the difference between a merely logically correct concept and one that is true to reality. A logically correct concept is not necessarily true to reality. In my new book I have tried to elaborate what it means to think true to reality. So much that is deplorable in our cultural life comes from the belief that anything thought out logically is also necessarily true to reality. However, thinking that is true to reality is very different from merely logical and correct thinking.
For example, when you see a tree trunk lying on the ground, you see an external reality. But if you think about this tree trunk, you will find it is not a reality at all because it cannot exist as such. It necessarily has to contain the shoots that develop into branches, leaves, and blossoms. Thus, it is really a lie, this tree trunk, a “true unreality,” because what it appears to be cannot exist in the nature of things. Only if you are aware that you think of something unreal when you think about a tree trunk, then your thinking is true to reality.
Thus, you see most modern sciences consist of thoughts about unrealities. Geology thinks of the earth as consisting purely of minerals. But there is no such purely mineral earth, just as the tree trunk as such does not exist. For the mineral kingdom of the earth already contains in itself plants, animals, and human beings, and only when we think of these latter kingdoms as connected with the mineral are we thinking about a reality. Geology, then, is a completely unreal science.
The outstanding feature of my new book is that I have tried to elaborate the concept of reality. Another important feature is my attempt to give at least a preliminary sketch of the imaginative thinking we will all have to develop. You will also find all kinds of comparisons and analogies in this book because I did not work with abstract, logically developed concepts. Instead, I said, for example, thinking in terms of the atomistic world view means insisting what the natural sciences think is real. It means believing when we paint a portrait, the subject of the painting can then walk around. In my book I have worked with images like this. It remains to be seen whether this unique style will be appreciated. It is the beginning of a special mode of presentation not readily found elsewhere these days.
We have to realize, however, how far people are from unbiased acceptance of these things. These days people have an incredible faith in authority. They do not look at what stands behind the authorities, but measure authority by title, rank, and official position. However, what matters is what stands behind an authority. I would like to give you a nice example to show the extent to which homunculism and thinking in mere appearances have already advanced. A man told this story as an interesting example of what homunculism in our time considers great and important—he told it with the best of intentions for he is opposed to homunculism though he is not sure what to replace it with.
There are many today who worship technology as their god, and I gave you examples of this a few weeks ago. To show the extent of this adoration of technology let me quote the following monstrosity. This is an outrageous utterance of a serious man of mature years, a doctor and a family man. He is said to be not especially outstanding or profound in any way, that is, he is considered to meet all requirements for pronouncing judgments held to be good common sense. Before the war, when the newspaper world was thoroughly amazed by the daring flight of the French aviator Pegoud, this man—a doctor and family man and in no way outstanding—this man judged the cultural value of the airplane in the style of the period, saying with great seriousness and pathos, “A screw of Pegoud's flying machine is more important than all the philosophy of Kant and Schiller, than all philosophy of all times, if you like.”10Adolphe Pegoud, 1889–1915, French aviator. Known for acrobatic ying feats; credited with first “looping the loop” in an aircraft. Killed in aerial combat. Now, don't think this is a very unusual and rare statement. It is the sort of attitude prevailing with many people today, and it is growing stronger and stronger.
It is now more than twenty years ago, that a lady invited me to speak in her salon on Goethe after I had just given a series of public lectures. I did so, and from her circle of friends she was able to bring together quite a large audience. So I spoke to them about Goethe's Faust and some of his other plays.11Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749–1832, German poet and playwright. Faust (1808–32), a drama in verse, is his masterpiece. The ladies took it quite well, but most of the men said that Faust was not a drama but science. What they meant was that in a theater one ought to see Blumenthal and not Goethe's Faust.12Oskar Blumenthal, 1852–1917, German playwright and critic. It is indeed true that people now are moving in a direction culminating in judgments such as the one I just read to you.
You see, today things happen quickly. Not long ago someone published the memoirs of a well-known natural scientist who died recently—at least it was something like memoirs, not really an autobiography but a book written down later by somebody else. Strictly speaking, one cannot call this memoirs. It is indeed interesting to contemplate one of the opinions expressed by this world-famous man; I don't even want to tell you his name, you would be surprised how famous he is. Indeed, he was one of the most renowned people of his day, famous and an expert in his profession, and we certainly don't want to deny his greatness. One of the things he said was, “Philosophy does not concern me at all. It is all the same to me whether the sun moves around the earth or the earth around the sun. I would only be interested in this if I were studying astronomy.”13It was not possible to ascertain the identity of the person Steiner refers to here. This man has given the world a new medical preparation; his name is on everyone's lips; yet he has never gone outside his very narrow circle and serenely admits being not particularly interested whether the earth moves around the sun or the sun around the earth. He would concern himself with that only if he were an astronomer!
I don't want to denounce or criticize anyone; this man has doubtlessly earned his fame in his own field. He liked to have his wife play the piano for him in the evening; yet he considered music merely a means to improve his concentration and was not really listening to it at all. So she played the piano for him, but he understood nothing of it and merely enjoyed his enhanced concentration. Only on Saturdays he did not want any music because then he was waiting for something still more important to him. He was fervently expecting the arrival of a detective novel, a blood-curdling detective story in a lurid cover. He used to read such novels with special pleasure and preferred them to piano music. He loved these detective novels, the kind of trashy literature peddled on the backstairs!
Now, as I said, I am not telling you this to denounce anyone but simply to show what our times are like. We must remember that these are the authorities behind laboratory tables, behind dissecting tables. This is the spirit permeating what can indeed be very useful in the outer world and what will inevitably lead our whole culture step by step into technologization, that is, into homunculism. We must realize this danger, and, based on this insight, we have to find ways to allow the spirit to approach people. What I said here this winter was not said out of a subjective bias in favor of spiritual science, but out of insight into its inevitable significance for the present age. I believe it will be good if you will take into your souls what has been said.
We can probably meet again for another talk next Tuesday because it will surely take still another week before my book is finished.
Blut und Nerven
In der Geisteswissenschaft betrachten wir alles Materielle, alles Stoffliche als eine Offenbarung des Geistigen. Es handelt sich aber immer darum, in welcher Weise im einzelnen dieses oder jenes Stoffliche als eine Offenbarung des Geistigen anzusehen ist. Denn mit dem allgemeinen Satz, alles Stoffliche sei eine Offenbarung des Geistigen, ist ja nichts gesagt, höchstens etwas, was für Bequemlinge eine leichte Philosophie ist. Für den, der ernsthaft nach Erkenntnis strebt, handelt es sich darum, immer beim einzelnen Stofflichen, das in der Welt auftritt, zu erkennen, wie es eine Offenbarung des Geistigen ist. Nun wissen wir Ja, daß ein uralter, aber gleichwohl immer neuer Satz den Menschen einen Mikrokosmos nennt. Der Mensch tritt uns ja zunächst als stoffliche Erscheinung hier in der physischen Welt entgegen, und wenn wir Ernst machen mit diesem Satz vom Menschen als einem Mikrokosmos, als einem stofflichen Wesen, das so, wie es uns entgegentritt, die Geheimnisse des ganzen Kosmos enthält, so muß es uns ganz besonders wertvoll sein, gerade dieses stoffliche Wesen, als welches uns der Mensch zunächst in der physischen Welt entgegentritt, daraufhin zu prüfen, inwiefern es eine Offenbarung des Geistigen ist. Und wenn man das Stoffliche des Menschen ins Auge faßt, dann offenbart sich für denjenigen, welcher denkend - und denken muß) man schon einmal, wenn man nach Erkenntnis strebt - sich an das Stoffliche des Menschen macht, daß in der menschlichen stofflichen Wesenheit zwei ganz verschiedene Stoffesarten vorhanden sind. Schon für das gewöhnliche denkende Betrachten zeigt sich, daß da zwei verschiedene Stoffesarten vorhanden sind, denn grundverschieden treten diese zwei, sagen wir, Arten des Stofflichen am Menschenstoffeswesen auf: die Blutsubstanz, der Blutstoff und der Nervenstoff. Gewiß, Sie können sagen, es gibt allerlei andere Stoffe für eine äußerliche Betrachtungsweise: Muskelstoff, Knochenstoff und so weiter. Aber Sie wissen ja vielleicht, daß diese im Grunde genommen alle aus dem Blute heraus gebildet sind. Und wenn man sie genauer kennenlernt, so lernt man sie ja auch in ihrer Entstehungsweise aus dem Blute kennen, und es widerspricht dieses nicht der Tatsache, daß man es bei der menschlichen stofflichen Natur zu tun hat mit der Blutsubstanz, mit dem Blutstoff und mit dem Nervenstoff.
Sie können insofern schon äußerlich in der denkenden Betrachtung einen Unterschied finden zwischen dem Blutstoff und dem Nervenstoff, als Sie sich ja bloß zu überlegen brauchen, wie alles dasjenige, was zum Blute gehört, gewissermaßen von innen heraus sich an den stofflichen Vorgängen des menschlichen Organismus beteiligt. Das Blut wird allerdings durch den Einfluß von außen, aber doch im Innern des Menschen erzeugt, und erzeugt wiederum weiter, was eben für das stoffliche Dasein des Menschen notwendig ist. Dagegen zeigen sich Ihnen gerade die wichtigsten Nerven als Fortsetzungen der Sinne. Wenn Sie das Auge nehmen, so werden Sie nach rückwärts gehend als Fortsetzung des Auges den Augennerv, den Sehnerv finden, der sich dann einsenkt in die weitere Nervensubstanz des Gehirns. Und so sind im Grunde genommen alle Nerven gewissermaßen Fortsetzungen der Sinnesorgane. Die Prozesse, die sich in ihnen abspielen, spielen sich mehr oder weniger durch äußeren Einfluß ab, durch dasjenige, was von außen auf den Menschen wirkt. Man könnte sagen: Wie man in der äußeren Welt die beiden Magnetpole hat, wie man positive und negative Elektrizität hat, so haben wir wirklich in der Blutsubstanz und in der Nervensubstanz zwei Pole der menschlichen physischen Wesenheit. Und sie sind innerlich sehr, sehr verschieden, diese beiden Stoffarten, Blutstoff und Nervenstoff. Wenn man allerdings so nach den Methoden der heutigen Anatomie und Physiologie auf dem Seziertisch den Menschen untersucht, so legt man hübsch nebeneinander dasjenige, was aus dem Blut direkt stammt und dasjenige, was seinen Aufbau von außen erhält, die Nervensubstanz; und es erscheint Substanz neben Substanz. Aber sie sind doch grundverschieden voneinander. Und wenn man das Leben verfolgt, wie es sich entwickelt nach und nach, dann zeigt sich schon auch der große, bedeutsame Unterschied im Blutstoff und im Nervenstoff, und wir könnten vieles anführen aus der allermodernsten Anatomie und Physiologie, wenn wir diesen Unterschied, diesen polarischen Gegensatz näher begründen wollten. Das aber soll jetzt unterlassen werden. Wir wollen mehr auf die geisteswissenschaftliche Seite der Frage eingehen.
Da stellt sich uns das Blut - ich spreche vom Menschen - dar als dasjenige, was in die menschliche Organisation gekommen ist durch die Vorgänge, die im besonderen Erdenvorgänge sind. Das Blut ist durchaus Erdenwesen. Sie wissen ja, daß der Mensch lange, lange bevor es eine Erde gab, durch Saturn-, Sonnen- und Mondendasein vorbereitet worden ist. Was da vorbereitet worden ist, das alles hat das Blut noch nicht in sich. Das Blut, so wie es als menschliches Blut heute durch unsere Adern fließt, ist hinzugekommen durch die Erdenorganisation. Dagegen ist in der Konstruktion, in der ganzen Formung und Bildung des Nervenwesens dasjenige enthalten, was lange, lange vorbereitet worden ist durch den Saturn-, Sonnen- und Mondenprozeß, durch die Vorprozesse unserer Erdenorganisation.
Wenn nun derjenige, der geisteswissenschaftlich diese Sache untersucht, seinen Blick wirft einerseits auf die Blutsubstanz, anderseits auf die Nervensubstanz, so zeigt sich ihm gerade dann ein gewaltiger Unterschied zwischen den beiden Substanzen. Die Nervensubstanz ist durchaus dasjenige, was am Menschen nicht irdisch ist. Die Blutsubstanz ist durchaus dasjenige, was am Menschen irdisch ist. Die Nervensubstanz hat ganz ihren Ursprung, ihren Prozeß-Ursprung, in Vorgängen, die vor der Bildung der Erde liegen. Die Blutsubstanz mit allem, was in ihr wallt und webt, hat ganz den Ursprung in irdischen Vorgängen. Man könnte sagen, unsere Nervensubstanz ist so, daß sie eigentlich ganz und gar nicht von dieser Erde ist, sie ist in uns eingewoben als ein Kosmisches, ein Außerirdisches, sie ist verwandt mit dem Kosmos. Das Blut ist ganz und gar verwandt mit dem Irdischen. Nun ist aber unsere Nervensubstanz in das Irdische hereinversetzt, sie existiert hier im Irdischen, denn wir Menschen als stoffliche Wesen gehen auf der physischen Erde herum. Wir tragen alle in unserer Nervensubstanz etwas in uns, das eigentlich außerirdischen Ursprungs und auf die Erde versetzt ist. Das ist eine außerordentlich wichtige Tatsache. Denn unsere Nervensubstanz ist eigentlich so, wie sie in uns lagert, tot. Daher brauchen Sie auch nur das nächstbeste der gewöhnlichen gegenwärtigen Bücher über Physiologie oder Anatomie aufzuschlagen und Sie werden sehen, daß die Nervensubstanz als Substanz das Haltbarste im Menschen ist, das Unveränderlichste, dasjenige, welches in derselben Weise wie die Blutsubstanz am wenigsten unmittelbar mechanischen, äußeren Einflüssen unterliegt. Es unterliegt den Einflüssen der Sinnesempfindungen, aber nicht unmittelbar mechanischen Einflüssen. Das alles kommt davon her, daß unsere Nervensubstanz ihrem Ursprung nach eine lebende Substanz ist; aber dadurch, daß wir sie als Erdenmenschen in uns tragen, ist sie tot. Man könnte sagen — wenn das nicht paradox wäre, aber es ist, trotzdem es paradox ist, richtig im geistigen Sinne — : Wenn man Nervensubstanz nehmen könnte und sie hinauftragen bis dahin, wo die Erdenkräfte nicht mehr wirken, so würde Nervensubstanz ein wunderbar lebendiges, vibrierendes Wesen sein! Diese Nervensubstanz ist zum Leben angelegt gewissermaßen im Himmel, in allem Außerirdischen, und sie stirbt ab zu dem Grade des Totseins, in dem sie in unserem Organismus ist, dadurch, daß sie in die Sphäre des Irdischen hereingebracht wird. Das ist etwas höchst Merkwürdiges. Wir tragen in uns diese Nervensubstanz, die eigentlich kosmisch lebendig und nur irdisch tot ist. Wie gesagt, würde man ein Stückchen Nervensubstanz nehmen und hinauftragen da, wo die Erde nicht mehr hinwirkt, so würde man eine wunderbare, lebende, leuchtende Substanz haben, die sogleich wiederum überginge in diesen ruhigen, leblosen Zustand, in dem sie in uns lagert, wenn sie in die Erdensphäre hereingebracht wird. Wir haben es also in unserer Nervensubstanz mit einem Kosmisch-Lebendigen und Irdisch-Toten zu tun.
Wir tragen stofflich in unserer Nervensubstanz tatsächlich ein Außerirdisches in uns. Das drückt sich auch symbolisch sehr gut aus. Vielleicht werden sich einige von Ihnen noch erinnern können, daß ich einmal hier über die Anthroposophie im engeren Sinne vorgetragen habe. Da habe ich die Sinne des Menschen aufgezählt. Gewöhnlich unterscheidet man nur fünf Sinne; wir haben dazumal zwölf aufgezählt. Zwölf Sinne hat der Mensch, wenn man alles, was Sinn genannt werden kann, wirklich aufzählt. Und die Sinne sind ja schließlich nichts anderes, als dasjenige, wozu die Nerven hingehen, oder eigentlich von dem die Nerven ausgehen und sich nach innen erstrecken, so daß wir im Grunde genommen zwölf Sinne haben, und von den zwölf Sinnen ausgehend, die Nerven wie kleine Bäume nach dem Innern sich erstreckend. Das ist deshalb, weil sich in unserem Nervenapparat, insofern er zu den äußeren Sinnen gehört, ausdrückt ein Himmlisches: der Durchgang der Sonne durch die zwölf Sternbilder. Dieses Verhältnis des Durchgehens der Sonne durch die zwölf Sternbilder ist symbolisch, aber realsymbolisch ausgedrückt in dem Verhältnis unseres gesamten Nervensystems zu den einzelnen zwölf Sinnen. Daraus können Sie ersehen, daß wir dasjenige, was draußen kosmisch vorhanden ist in dem Durchgang der Sonne durch die zwölf Sternbilder, wirklich in uns tragen räumlich in dem Verhältnis unseres gesamten Nervensystems zu den zwölf Sinnen. Und wiederum, wenn Sie das mehr nach innen gelagerte Nervensystem nehmen, das zum Rückenmark gehört, so haben wir ja übereinandergelagert im Rückgrat Ring nach Ring, und da hindurch geht der Nervenstrang. Diese Ringe entsprechen wirklich den Monaten, dem Gang des Mondes um die Erde herum, so daß auch in diesem Hingehen immer eines Nervs zu einem Loch in dem Ring des Rückgrates gegeben ist etwas, was einem Tag im Monat entspricht. Wiederum ein himmlisches Verhältnis! Das Verhältnis des Mondenganges um die Erde drückt sich real-symbolisch aus in dem, was wir in uns tragen als Verhältnis unserer Innennerven zum Rückenmark. Wir sind ganz und gar, insofern wir aus Nervensubstanz aufgebaut sind, aus dem Himmel heraus gebaut, aus dem Kosmos draußen, und derjenige allein versteht richtig diese wunderbare Anordnung der Nervensubstanz in uns, der in ihr ein Abbild des ganzen Sternenhimmels wahrnehmen kann. Der Mensch trägt da wirklich ein Abbild des ganzen Sternenhimmels in sich in der baumartigen Anordnung seiner Nervensubstanz, und diejenigen Kräfte, die draußen fließen von Stern zu Stern, die sich ausdrücken in dem Kreislauf des Himmels, die fließen wirklich, aber abgestorben und in uns lagernd, in unserem Nervensystem. Und wie wir bei so vielem sehen können, wie im Grunde genommen das ganze Universum sich in dem Menschen ausdrückt, so können wir es auch an diesem Zusammenhange zwischen dem Aufbau des ganzen Kosmos außerhalb der Erde und unserem Nervenbau sehen. Wenn wir sagen können, daß das Nervensystem für den Himmel gebaut ist, so ist es lebendig für den Himmel gebaut und ist abgestorben in uns dadurch, daß es in der Sphäre der Erde ist.
Ganz anderes müssen wir über unsere Blutsubstanz sagen. Die ist durchaus irdisch, und die Vorgänge, die im Blute vor sich gehen, müßten nach der inneren Beschaffenheit des ganzen Blutsystems eigentlich nur irdische Vorgänge sein. Das Eigentümliche der irdischen Vorgänge ist aber, daß sie eben nicht leben. Das Mineralreich ist, wie wir wissen, dasjenige, was auf der Erde dazugekommen ist, das leblose Reich. Und ganz entspricht diesem leblosen Reich in uns das Element des Blutes. Zwar lebt dieses Blut, solange es in uns ist, aber es ist nicht durch seine innere irdische Natur zum Leben bestimmt, das ist das Eigentümliche, sondern dadurch, daß es verbunden ist mit dem im Menschen, was außerirdisch ist, bekommt es sein Leben. Während das Nervensystem eigentlich zum Leben im Kosmos draußen, außerirdisch, bestimmt ist und in uns tot ist, ist das Blut bestimmt, in uns tot zu sein und erlangt ein Leben von außen. Das Nervensystem gibt gewissermaßen sein Leben ab an das Blut, und so ist das Nervensystem verhältnismäßig tot, das Blut verhältnismäßig das Lebendige. So wahr das Nervensystem kosmisch Leben und irdisch Tod hat, so wahr hat das Blut umgekehrt durch sich irdisch Tod und erborgtes, ihm aufgedrängtes kosmisches Leben. Das Leben ist überhaupt nicht von unserer Erde. Daher muß das Nervensystem gewissermaßen den Tod aufnehmen, damit es irdisch werden kann, und das Blut muß lebend werden, damit der Mensch, insofern er irdische Substanz ist, der außerirdischen Welt sich zuwenden kann.
Da aber wird, ich möchte sagen, dasjenige, was wir immer aufzunehmen hatten durch die Geisteswissenschaft, recht ernst. Denn eigentlich müssen wir ja sagen: Wir tragen in uns die Nervensubstanz, sie ist zum Leben bestimmt durch ihre eigene Wesenheit, aber sie ist tot. Wodurch ist sie tot? Dadurch, daß sie auf die Erde versetzt ist. Der Tod - Sie brauchen es nur nachzulesen in einem Vortragszyklus, den ich einmal in München gehalten habe -, ist eigentlich das Reich des Ahriman. Damit tragen wir in unserem Nervensystem, indem es getötet ist durch die irdische Sphäre, das Ahrimanische in uns. Und in dem Blute, indem es lebendig gemacht wird, während es durch seine eigene Natur zum Tode bestimmt ist, das heißt zu bloßen chemischen und physischen Vorgängen, tragen wir das Luziferische in uns. Weil das Nervensystem ein Totes ist, kann Ahriman in uns sein, weil das Blut ein Lebendiges ist, kann Luzifer in uns sein. Sie sehen jetzt, wie bedeutsam sich diese beiden Substanzen von einander abheben, wie sie sich wie Nord- und Südpol polarisch zueinander verhalten.
Nun blicken wir einmal hinaus im Gedanken in das Außerirdische und machen dasjenige, was wir geisteswissenschaftlich erkennen, nicht zu einer abstrakten Theorie, sondern zu etwas Lebendigem, das unser Gefühl, unser Empfinden ergreifen kann. Dann blicken wir hinauf in den Weltenraum, in das Außerirdische, und sagen uns: Da draußen ist der Geist, der eigentlich in unserem Nervensystem leben könnte, wenn unser Nervensystem nicht auf die Erde heruntergegangen wäre. Da draußen ist der Geist, wir ahnen ihn, erfüllend das Universum, der Geist, der zu unserem Nervensystem gehört. Und wiederum, indem wir den Gedanken auf unser Blut lenken, sagen wir uns: Dieses Blut tragen wir in uns, es ist eigentlich durch seine eigene Wesenheit zu bloß physischen und chemischen Vorgängen bestimmt, bloß um umgesetzt zu werden durch den Sauerstoff in der Weise, wie Sie das in der Anatomie, in der Physiologie beschrieben finden können. Aber dadurch, daß es in uns lebt, hat es Teil an dem Leben des Universums. Aber es ist zunächst luziferisches Leben.
Und jetzt, meine lieben Freunde, erinnern wir uns recht tief, gefühls- und empfindungsmäßig recht gründlich an mancherlei, das wie ein roter Faden durch viele unserer Betrachtungen gegangen ist. Erinnern wir uns an alles dasjenige, das wir gesagt haben über das Herabsteigen des Christus aus den Weltensphären in unsere Erdensphäre, so werden wir dasjenige, was so in unserer Erinnerung auftauchen kann, verbinden können mit den Gedanken, die eben jetzt geäußert worden sind. Wir sind ja aus diesem Weltenall, aus diesem Universum stammend. Einst, in der lemurischen Zeit, sind wir herabgekommen, oder überhaupt im Laufe der Erdenentwickelung sind wir herabgekommen, haben unsere Entwickelung mit der Erde verbunden. Aber indem wir unser Nervensystem zur Entwickelung der Erde anvertraut haben, haben wir es der Totwerdung anvertraut, und sein Leben haben wir oben gelassen. Dieses Leben, das wir oben gelassen haben, ist dasselbe, das später nachgekommen ist in der Christus-Wesenheit. Das Leben unserer Nerven, das wir nicht in uns tragen, das wir nicht vom Anfange unseres Erdendaseins an in uns tragen konnten, es ist nachgekommen in der Christus-Wesenheit. Und was mußte es ergreifen im Erdendasein? Es mußte ergreifen das Blut! Daher das viele Hinblicken auf das Blutmysterium. Dasjenige, was in uns getrennt ist, indem das Nervensystem sein kosmisches Leben verloren und das Blut ein kosmisches Leben bekommen hat, daß Leben Tod und der Tod Leben wurde, das erreichte eine neue Verbindung dadurch, daß dasjenige, was nicht in unserem irdischen Nervensystem lebt, aus dem Kosmos zu uns niedergestiegen ist, Mensch geworden ist, in das Blut getreten ist, das Blut sich aber mit der Erde vereinigt hat, wie ich in früheren Vorträgen ausgeführt habe. Und wir als Menschen können durch die Teilnahme am Christus-Mysterium den polarischen Gegensatz ausgleichen zwischen unserem Nervensystem und unserem Blutsystem.
Sehen Sie, die Menschen tragen diesen Gegensatz einmal in sich, und dieser Gegensatz spricht sich in der verschiedensten Weise aus. Da gibt es zum Beispiel eine äußere Wissenschaft, die jetzt in der Naturwissenschaft gewissermaßen ihren Abschluß, ihre Zielsetzung gefunden hat. Die Naturwissenschaft spricht von der Welt als aus Atomen aufgebaut. Diese Atome, von denen die Naturwissenschaft spricht, sind reine Phantasie. Sie sind draußen nirgends. Warum spricht aber der Mensch doch von Atomen? Weil er in sich sein Nervensystem aus lauter Kügelchen gebaut hat, und das projiziert er hinaus. Die atomistische Welt draußen ist nichts anderes als das hinausprojizierte Nervensystem. Der Mensch selbst verlegt sich hinaus in die Welt, denkt sie sich aus Atomen zusammengesetzt, sein Nervensystem selbst aus den einzelnen Ganglien-Kügelchen zusammengesetzt. Daher wird die Wissenschaft immer atomistisch sein wollen, denn sie kommt aus der Nervensubstanz. Der Wissenschaft steht gegenüber alles dasjenige, was Mystik, was Religion und so weiter ist, was aus dem Blut kommt. Das will nicht Atomistik, das will überall die Einheit sehen. Diese beiden Gegensätze streiten sich in der Welt. Man ist erst aufgeklärt über diesen Streit, wenn man weiß, daß das der innere Streit in der menschlichen Natur zwischen Nervensubstanz und Blutsubstanz ist. Es gäbe keinen Streit in der Welt zwischen Wissenschaft und Religion, wenn nicht in der Menschennatur der Streit wäre zwischen Nervensubstanz und Blutsubstanz.
Den Ausgleich findet man dadurch, daß man in der richtigen Art sich vereinigen kann mit demjenigen, was als das Christus-Wesen die Erde durchpulst seit dem Mysterium von Golgatha. Jede Empfindung, jedes Erlebnis, das wir haben können in Anknüpfung an dieses Mysterium von Golgatha, trägt zum Ausgleich bei. Die Menschen sind heute noch nicht sehr weit in bezug auf diese Ausgleichung, aber das Streben muß dahin gehen. Wir selbst in unserem Kreise finden sehr häufig, wie der charakterisierte Gegensatz nach der einen oder nach der anderen Richtung sich ausprägt. Viele sind unter uns, die hören sich die Lehren der Anthroposophie an und nehmen sie wie eine äußere Wissenschaft, so daß sich in den Köpfen von vielen Anthroposophie gewissermaßen nicht unterscheidet von äußerer Wissenschaft. Aber Anthroposophie ist erst dann in richtigem Sinn verstanden, wenn sie nicht bloß mit dem Kopf aufgefaßt wird, sondern wenn sie uns in jeder ihrer Äußerungen Enthusiasmus gibt, wenn sie in uns so lebt, daß sie den Übergang findet von Nervensystem zu Blutsystem. Wenn wir uns erwärmen können für die Wahrheiten, die in der Anthroposophie enthalten sind, dann erst verstehen wir sie. Solange wir sie bloß abstrakt fassen, indem wir sie gewissermaßen studieren wie ein Einmaleins, ein Rechenbuch, ein Dienstreglement oder ein Kochbuch, so lange verstehen wir sie nicht. Ebensowenig verstehen wir sie, wenn wir diese Anthroposophie studieren wie die Chemie oder wie die Botanik. Wir verstehen sie erst, wenn sie uns warm macht, wenn sie uns erfüllt mit dem Leben, das in ihr waltet. Der Christus hat einmal gesagt: «Ich bin bei euch bis ans Ende der Erdentage.» Und er ist nicht bloß als ein Toter, er ist als ein Lebender unter uns und er offenbart sich immer. Und nur diejenigen, die so kurzsichtig sind, daß sie sich vor diesen Offenbarungen fürchten, sagen, man solle bei dem bleiben, was immer gegolten hat. Diejenigen aber, die nicht feige sind, wissen, daß der Christus sich immer offenbart. Deshalb dürfen wir dasjenige, was er als Anthroposophie offenbart, als eine wirkliche Christus-Offenbarung aufnehmen. — Oft, meine lieben Freunde, werde ich gefragt von unseren Mitgliedern: Wie setze ich mich in Verbindung mit dem Christus? — Es ist eine naive Frage! Denn alles, was wir anstreben können, jede Zeile, die wir lesen aus unserer anthroposophischen Wissenschaft, ist ein Sich-in-Beziehung-Setzen zu dem Christus. Wir tun gewissermaßen gar nichts anderes. Und derjenige, der nebenbei noch ein besonderes Sich-in-Beziehung-Setzen sucht, der drückt nur naiv aus, daß er eigentlich vermeiden möchte den etwas unbequemen Weg, etwas zu studieren oder etwas zu lesen.
Aber noch etwas anderes können Sie sehen aus dieser Betrachtung. Diese Betrachtung hat begonnen, ich möchte sagen, wie ganz äußerlich-wissenschaftlich, wie anatomisch-physiologisch. Von der stofflichen Betrachtung des Menschen sind wir ausgegangen, und den Übergang finden wir nun zu der höchsten Erkenntnis, die sich dem Menschen auf Erden bieten kann: zu der Christologie. Diesen Übergang kann Ihnen keine andere Wissenschaft geben. Die Geisteswissenschaft zeigt Ihnen, wie unsere Nervensubstanz etwas verloren hat dadurch, daß sie irdische Substanz geworden ist. Wo aber ist das, was unsere Nervensubstanz verloren hat? Als Jesus von Nazareth dreißig Jahre alt war, zog Christus in den Leib des Jesus von Nazareth und ging durch das Mysterium von Golgatha! Versuchen Sie nur einmal, sich so recht zu durchwärmen mit diesem Gedanken. Dasjenige, was, weil wir Erdenmenschen sind, unserem Nervensystem fehlt, was nur ausgefüllt ist durch Ahrimanisches, das tritt uns da entgegen im Mysterium von Golgatha, und unsere Menschenaufgabe ist es, es ins Blut aufzunehmen, um das Luziferische zu durchchristen im Blute, unseren Enthusiasmus so zu gestalten, daß es in uns lebt. Denn alles dasjenige, was wir in abstrakten Gedanken denken können, ist gebunden an Nervensubstanz, alles dasjenige, was in uns lebt als Gefühl, als Gemüt, als Enthusiasmus, als Stimmung, ist gebunden ans Blut. So, wie im Organismus die Beziehung ist zwischen Nervensubstanz und Blutsubstanz, so ist in der Seele die Beziehung zwischen dem Denken, das in Abstraktionen, in kalten Gedanken, wie man sagt, verläuft, und dem Enthusiasmus, in den wir versetzt werden können, wenn die Dinge für uns nicht kalte Gedanken bleiben, wenn wir warm gemacht werden können durch den Geist, wozu wir uns ja allerdings im Leben erst erziehen müssen.
Und jetzt sehen Sie, ich möchte sagen, geistig-physiologisch hinein in dasjenige, was sich vollzogen hat mit dem Mysterium von Golgatha. Nachgezogen ist dem Menschen dasjenige, was er zurückgelassen hat, und wiederum soll es ihn durchseelen, weil es ihn nicht durchkörpern sollte im Beginne des Erdenwirkens. Hätte es ihn durchdrungen im Beginne des Erdenwirkens, so hätte es ihn durchkörpert, und er wäre ein Automat des Geistes geworden. So aber hat er erst seine Entwickelung eine Zeitlang im Erdenlauf vollendet, und dann erst sollte ihn durchseelen, was ihn nicht vom Anfange an durchkörpern sollte. Das ist der große, wunderbare Zusammenhang, der uns bis in den Stoff hinunter die Wirksamkeit des Geistigen zeigt, nicht nur jenes allgemeinen Geistigen, von dem der verschwommene Pantheismus so gern redet, sondern des konkret Geistigen, das wir durch das Mysterium von Golgatha gehen sehen. Das ist es, was ich gemeint habe, wenn ich sagte, daß mit der allgemeinen Wahrheit: Alle Materie ist eine Offenbarung des Geistes — , nichts Besonderes gesagt ist. Erkenntnis gewinnen wir erst, wenn wir im besonderen wissen, wie in dem einzelnen materiellen Dasein das Geistige sich offenbaren kann. Sehen Sie, wenn man heute dasjenige, was die äußere Wissenschaft bietet, nimmt, dann ist ja da eine ganze Fülle enthalten von Dingen, die als Material daliegen, die da warten, von geistiger Auffassung durchdrungen zu werden. So stark können sie von geistiger Auffassung durchdrungen werden, daß sich allerallermateriellste Wissenschaft verbinden wird mit Christologie. Aber wir leben eben in einem Zeitalter, in dem es den Menschen schwer wird, den Weg zu finden, der gewissermaßen Nervensystem und Blutsystem verbindet.
Deshalb habe ich Ihnen durch eine Reihe von Betrachtungen gezeigt, wie weit unsere Zeit entfernt ist von einer solchen geistgemäfen Auffassung der Welt. Noch das letztemal zeigte ich Ihnen an einem besonderen Beispiel, wie es selbst einem, der gestrebt hat nach dem Geistigen, Hermann Bahr, jetzt nur gelungen ist, nachdem er über fünfzig Jahre alt geworden ist, das allerelementarste SichNähern an den Geist zu erreichen, während groteske Erscheinungen gewissermaßen unser geistiges Leben beherrschen, wie jener Philosophie-Professor in Czernowitz, von dem ich Ihnen einen Ausspruch vorgelesen habe. Damit er uns ja nicht entfalle, will ich Ihnen diesen Ausspruch doch noch einmal vorlesen: «Wir haben nicht mehr Philosophie als ein Tier, und nur die rasenden Versuche, zu einer Philosophie zu kommen, und die endliche Ergebung in Nichtwissen unterscheiden uns von dem Tiere.» — Das ist die Quintessenz dieser Philosophie, aber Philosophie kann man es ja nicht nennen, denn «der Mensch hat nicht mehr Philosophie als ein Tier», nach dem Ausspruch dieses Philosophie-Professors. Das heißt, wir sind heute so weit, daß es regelrecht angestellte Professoren der Philosophie gibt, die sich zur Aufgabe machen, Philosophie als lächerlichen Unsinn hinzustellen. Hier bemerkt man es, wenn einer gerade so weit geht. Die meisten anderen Philosophen tun es ja auch, aber sie lassen es sich nicht so anmerken. Und die Wahrheit gilt nicht nur für Philosophen, sie gilt auch für andere Menschen, die so viel von ihrer Aufgabe verstehen, wie dieser Philosoph von seiner Philosophie, daß sie so viel ruinieren von dem, wofür sie angestellt sind, wie dieser Philosoph von der Philosophie ruiniert. Aber sonst bemerkt man es nicht so, wenn man es nicht gerade so zynisch auf dem Präsentierteller den Menschen vorhält wie dieser, zur Vernichtung der Philosophie als Professor der Philosophie angestellte Philosoph, Richard Wahle.
Deshalb ist es notwendig - Sie brauchen sich nur, um die Notwendigkeit einzusehen, an einen Vortrag zu erinnern, den ich vor einigen Wochen hier gehalten habe -, daß ein wenig angeknüpft werde an die Zeit des europäischen Geisteslebens, da man versucht hat, wenn auch noch nicht mit den heutigen Mitteln der Geisteswissenschaft, dem Geiste nahe zu kommen. Aus diesem Grunde habe ich gerade in dieser jetzigen schweren Zeit die Vorträge der verflossenen Winter gehalten und sie jetzt zusammengefaßt in dem Buch, das nächstens fertig werden wird, «Vom Menschenrätsel», wo das Denken, Schauen und Sinnen einer Anzahl von Geistern des 19. Jahrhunderts zusammengefaßt ist, die eben noch nach dem Geistigen strebten, wenn auch noch nicht mit den Mitteln der heutigen Geisteswissenschaft. Aber ich versuchte, in diesem Buche zu zeigen, wie diese Geister hinstrebten zum Geiste, wenn sie ihn auch noch nicht erreichen konnten. Es wird sich ja zeigen, ob nicht vielleicht gerade dieses Buch «Vom Menschenrätsel», das die Vorträge der letzten Winter zusammenfaßt, trotzdem es so leicht als möglich geschrieben ist, manchem zu schwer sein wird und er es beim Kaufen bewenden lassen wird, was das weniger Wichtige ist. Das Wichtigere ist das Lesen! Es wird sich ja zeigen, ob dieses Buch, das wirklich geschrieben ist, um der Zeit zu dienen, eine Wirkung tut, ob es in die Seelen einzieht. Es ist ein Buch, das von jedem verwendet werden kann, um gewissermaßen denjenigen, die außerhalb unseres Kreises stehen, den Beweis zu liefern, daß Geisteswissenschaft wie eine Forderung der besten Geister der unmittelbaren Vergangenheit dasteht, daß sie nicht etwas ist, das nur aus einer gewissen Willkür heraus entspringt, sondern wirklich eine Forderung der besten Geister ist.
Und so möchte ich die Anregung machen, daß einzelnes von dem gelesen wird, was so wunderschön geistig im Laufe des 19. Jahrhunderts von Geistern des Abendlandes zutage gefördert worden ist, Großes, Bedeutsames. Aber mit all diesen Bestrebungen geht es ja ganz sonderbar. Zu dem Größten - ich habe in anderem Zusammenhang darauf hingewiesen, in diesem Buche war es nicht notwendig, noch einmal darauf zurückzukommen - gehören die philosophischen Schriften Schillers, zum Beispiel die Briefe «Über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen». Man kann sagen, wer das mit innerem Anteil gelesen hat, hat außerordentlich viel für das Leben seiner Seele getan. Es haben sich ja verschiedene Leute Mühe gegeben, die Menschen hinzuweisen auf die philosophischen Schriften Schillers. Deinhardt war solch einer, der in Wien lebende Heinrich Deinhardt. Er hat ein schönes, außerordentlich geistvolles Büchelchen geschrieben über Schillers Weltanschauung in den Sechzigerjahren des 19. Jahrhunderts. Ich glaube nicht, daß Sie es irgendwo bekommen, es ist längst eingestampft, höchstens irgendwo ein verlorenes antiquarisches Exemplar, denn gelesen hat das, was Deinhardt über Schiller geschrieben hat, das zu dem Besten gehört, was über Schiller geschrieben worden ist, niemand! Aber der Mann war ein vergessener Lehrer in Wien, der das Malheur gehabt hat, sich einmal ein Bein zu brechen, und, trotzdem es mit Sorgfalt eingerichtet worden ist, konnte er nicht gesund werden, weil er zu schlecht ernährt war. Der Mann hat eines der besten Bücher über Schiller geschrieben, ein Buch, das sicherlich besser ist, als alle die zahlreichen QuatschSchriften, die später über Schiller geschrieben worden sind; aber er mußte verhungern. So geht es eben.
Mit diesem meinem Buch sollte noch einmal versucht werden, Geister wie Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, Troxler, Planck, Preuß, Immanuel Hermann Fichte und einige andere lebendig zu machen in unserer Gegenwart. Das, was sie enthalten, ist eine ganz andere Seelennahrung als dasjenige, was die heutigen Menschen so vielfach suchen, die ganz ehrlich, aber mißleitet suchen. Wie tat einem doch das Herz weh, wenn man immer wieder und wiederum sah, wie ehrlich suchende Menschen griffen zu dem oder jenem, um für ihre Seele Nahrung zu haben, um einen Weg zu haben in die geistige Welt hinein. Hätte man zu solchen Schriften wie Schellings «Clara» oder «Bruno» gegriffen, unendliche Seelennahrung - allerdings mit einiger Anstrengung, aber die tut gut! — hätte man gewinnen können. Immer lebendiger und lebendiger wurde ja ein gewisses naives Seelensuchen der letzten Zeit, aber das Höchste, zu dem man sich verstieg, war in weiteren Kreisen so etwas wie die Seelensauce von Ralph Waldo Trine oder dergleichen, oder jene geistige Seelensauce, die entsteht, indem man irgendeine Ausgestaltung des Buddhismus oder des Brahmanismus oder ähnliches mit einer Sauce verbrämt. Da hat man die sonderbarsten Erfahrungen machen können. Ich kannte einen ganz lieben Menschen - er ist vor kurzem hier in Berlin gestorben -, der, als ich zuerst veröffentlicht hatte die Schriften, die ich der Interpretation Goethes gewidmet habe, für diese Schriften dazumal enthusiasmiert war. Dann ist er älter geworden und hat nun - daraus sehen Sie, daß der Enthusiasmus nur so ein Sprühfeuer war — gerade in der letzten Zeit eine ganze Menge von solchen Seelensauce-Werken, nicht gerade Ralph Waldo Trine, aber andere aus dem Amerikanisch-Englischen ins Deutsche übersetzt. Man brauchte ja lange Zeit hindurch amerikanisch-englische Seelennahrung hier in Europa.
Fühlen wir doch nur, was zu tun ist, um eben diesem Gefühle zu entsprechen. In diesen Schriften und dann auch in der kleinen Schrift, die jetzt schon hier ist, «Die Aufgabe der Geisteswissenschaft», versuchte ich zu zeigen, was gegeben werden kann auch denjenigen, die außerhalb unseres Kreises stehen. Natürlich kann gerade diese Schrift «Die Aufgabe der Geisteswissenschaft» Menschen gegeben werden, die außerhalb unseres Kreises stehen, und es wird sich ja zeigen, ob Verständnis da ist für dasjenige, was gerade demjenigen als Aufgabe obliegt, der etwas begreift von der Notwendigkeit des Einfließens geisteswissenschaftlicher Wahrheiten in unserer gegenwärtigen Zeit. Ich habe ja wahrhaftig im Laufe der Zeit nicht bloß diesen oder jenen abfälligen Satz gesagt, den ich gerade in dieser schweren Zeit zu Ihnen gesprochen habe, sondern ich habe die Dinge begründet, im einzelnen erzählt, das oder jenes belegt. Ich habe Ihnen nicht bloß gesagt, daß die Philosophen Homunkeln sind, sondern ich habe Ihnen einen besonders charakteristischen Ausspruch erst das letzte Mal wieder angeführt und manches andere noch, um Ihnen eine Vorstellung zu geben, wie die Dinge liegen, und wie in diesem ersten Drittel unserer fünften nachatlantischen Zeit alles nach dem Homunkulismus hin tendiert, nach der Geistesleerheit hin sich zu entwickeln sucht. Durchschauen müssen wird man immer mehr und mehr dasjenige, was Sie gerade in dem neuen Buch auseinandergesetzt finden werden: den Unterschied zwischen einem bloß richtigen, logisch richtigen Begriff und einem wirklichkeitsgemäßen Begriff. Ein logisch richtiger Begriff braucht noch nicht wirklichkeitsgemäß zu sein. Und das versuchte ich besonders herauszuarbeiten, was ein wirklichkeitsgemäßes Denken ist. Darauf beruht so unendlich viel Jammervolles in unserem Geistesleben, daß die Leute glauben, wenn sie irgend etwas logisch denken können, so sei das auch schon wirklichkeitsgemäß. Aber wirklichkeitsgemäßes Denken ist etwas anderes, als bloß richtiges Denken. Wenn Sie hier einen Baumstamm liegen sehen: Er ist eine äußere Wirklichkeit. Wenn Sie ihn denken, diesen Baumstamm, ist er keine Wirklichkeit, denn er kann nicht als solcher existieren. Er muß die Triebe in sich haben, die sich in Zweigen und Blättern und Blüten entwickeln. Er ist eine wirkliche Lüge, ein «wirkliches Unwirkliches» ist er, der Baumstamm, weil das Bild, das er Ihnen bietet, nicht da sein kann. Wirklichkeitsgemäß denkt nur derjenige, der fühlt, indem er einen Baumstamm denkt, daß er etwas Unwirkliches denkt. Und so bestehen die meisten der heutigen Wissenschaften aus Gedanken über Unwirklichkeiten. Die Geologie denkt heute die Erde rein mineralisch. Aber dieses Mineralische der Erde gibt es gar nicht, es existiert nicht für sich, geradesowenig, wie ein Baumstamm für sich existiert; denn das Mineralreich der Erde enthält schon die Pflanzen, Tiere und Menschen in sich, und nur, wenn man das letztere mit dem Mineral zusammengefügt denkt, denkt man eine Wirklichkeit. Die Geologie ist eine ganz unwirkliche Wissenschaft.
Das ist die eine Eigentümlichkeit dieses Buches, daß ich den Begriff der Wirklichkeit herauszuarbeiten versuchte. Die andere Eigentümlichkeit ist, daß ich wenigstens die Anfangsgesichtspunkte geben wollte von einem imaginativen Denken, zu dem sich die Menschen werden entwickeln müssen. Sie werden allerlei Vergleiche finden in dem Buche, das da erscheinen wird, indem nicht in abstrakt logischen Begriffsentwickelungen vorgegangen wird, sondern gesagt wird: Wenn einer zum Beispiel das atomistisch-naturwissenschaftliche Weltbild denkt, so ist es so, wie wenn er verlangen würde, daß das, was die Naturwissenschaft denkt, wirklich sei, wie wenn er glauben würde, wenn er einen Menschen malt, daß dann der gemalte Mensch herumgehen könne. - In solchen bildlichen Darstellungen ist versucht worden vorzugehen gerade in diesem Buche. Und man wird sehen, ob dieser eigentümliche Stil bemerkt wird. Es ist ein Anfang gemacht mit einer besonderen Art der Darstellung, die man sonst in der Gegenwart nicht so leicht findet.
Aber man muß sich ganz klar darüber sein, wie weit entfernt im Grunde genommen die Gegenwart ist von einem unbefangenen Hinnehmen dieser Dinge. Die Gegenwart - ich habe es oft gesagt - ist ja so autoritätsgläubig wie nur irgend etwas. Sie sieht sich dann nicht an, was, sagen wir, hinter den Autoritäten steht. Die Autoritäten werden heute bemessen nach den Titeln und Ämtern, die sie haben, aber was dahinter steht, darauf kommt es ja an. Ich möchte Ihnen doch ein nettes Beispiel, das vor kurzem erzählt worden ist, geben, wie weit vorgeschritten in unserer Zeit der Homunkulismus schon ist, wie weit vorgeschritten das Denken in der reinen Äußerlichkeit ist. Da führt ein Mann ganz nett und gutmeinend - er ist gegen den Homunkulismus, wenn er auch nicht weiß, was er an die Stelle des Homunkulismus setzen soll - einen interessanten Beleg an für dasjenige, was die Homunkulusse unserer Zeit für das eigentlich Große, Bedeutende halten. Es gibt ja heute schon viele, die als ihren Gott die Technik verehren; ich habe Ihnen besondere Beispiele vor einigen Wochen hier angeführt. Als Beleg aber, wie mächtig die Überzeugung von der Gottheit der Technik schon war, möge folgende Ungeheuerlichkeit angeführt werden, der ungeheuerliche Ausspruch eines ernsten Mannes gesetzten Alters, eines Arztes und Familienvaters, der - das wird uns alles gesagt - in nichts hervorragt oder vertieft ist, welcher also alle Bedingungen hat, um ein Urteil von der soliden Marke des gesunden Menschenverstandes abzugeben. Als die Welt der Zeitungen vor dem Kriege durch den kühnen Flug des französischen Aviatikers Pégoud in tiefes Staunen versetzt wurde, sagte jener Mann, der also ein Urteil ganz im Stile der Zeit gab, denn er ist «Arzt, Familienvater und in nichts hervorragend», hat daher alle Bedingungen zu einem soliden und gesunden Menschenverstand, über den Kulturwert der Flugmaschine ganz ernst und mit festem Pathos: «Eine Schraube vom Flugapparat von Pégoud ist wichtiger als alle Philosophie von Kant und Schiller, und wenn ihr wollt, als alle Philosophien aller Zeiten.» Glauben Sie nicht, daß dies ein so seltener Ausspruch ist! Das ist schon dasjenige, was heute viele beherrscht als Gesinnung, und was sich immer mehr und mehr als Gesinnung herausarbeitet.
Man machte ja schon längst so seine Beobachtungen auf diesem Gebiete. Es ist jetzt schon mehr als zwanzig Jahre her, ich hatte eine Reihe von öffentlichen Vorträgen gehalten, da lud mich auch eine Dame ein, ich solle in ihrem Salon Vorträge halten über Goethe. Das habe ich auch dazumal getan, denn sie hat aus ihrem Kreise ein ganz großes Publikum zusammengebracht. Da sprach ich über Goethes «Faust» und einige andere Goethesche Dramen. Bei den Frauen ging es noch, aber die Männer haben meistens gesagt: Das ist ja nicht Dramatik, das ist eine Wissenschaft, der «Faust»! — Sie meinten nämlich, im Theater solle man Blumenthal sehen und nicht Goethes «Faust». — Ja, es ist schon so, daß man in der Gegenwart den Dingen zusteuert, die schließlich gipfeln in einem solchen Urteile, wie das Ihnen eben vorgelesene. Sehen Sie, jetzt geht ja manches schnell. So sind auch diese Memoiren - nicht Selbstgeschriebenes, sondern so Nachgeschriebenes von einem anderen, man kann es nicht gut Memoiren nennen — von einem jüngst verstorbenen, weitberühmten, naturforscherischen Gelehrten erschienen. Es ist doch interessant, einen der Aussprüche dieses weltberühmten Mannes - ich mag gar nicht seinen Namen nennen, Sie würden staunen, was für ein weltberühmter Mann das ist - sich vor die Seele zu führen. Der Mann war also, wie gesagt, einer der berühmtesten Menschen der Gegenwart, groß in seinem Fach, und diese Größe soll ihm selbstverständlich in keiner Weise bestritten werden. Aber einer seiner Aussprüche ist: «Philosophie geht mich nichts an. Es ist mir ganz gleich, ob sich die Sonne um die Erde, oder die Erde um die Sonne bewegt. Das würde mich nur interessieren, wenn ich mich mit Astronomie beschäftigte.» — Es ist ein Mann, der der Welt ein medizinisches Präparat übergeben hat, von dem alle Welt redet, der sich mit nichts befaßt hat, als mit diesem engsten Kreise, und der ruhig gesteht, es interessiere ihn nicht weiter, ob die Erde sich um die Sonne, oder die Sonne sich um die Erde bewege; damit würde er sich nur beschäftigen, wenn er Astronom wäre. Es ist derselbe Mann - es ist mir wahrhaftig nicht darum zu tun, irgend jemanden anzuschwärzen oder über irgend jemanden zu schimpfen, denn es ist ein zweifellos mit Berechtigung berühmter Mann auf seinem Gebiete -, der sich abends Klavier vorspielen ließ, aber die Musik so auffaßte, daß man durch sie «abgezogen» wird und sich daher besser im Denken konzentrieren kann, so daß man eigentlich nichts von ihr hört. So ließ er sich jeden Abend Musik von seiner Frau vorspielen auf dem Klavier. Er verstand gar nichts davon, es war ihm nur angenehm, daß er so abgezogen wurde. Nur sonnabends ließ er sich nicht vorspielen, denn da wartete er auf Wichtigeres. Da kam nämlich immer dasjenige, auf das er besonders brennend wartete: ein Detektivroman, ein ganz schauerlicher, in einem furchtbaren Einband. Und den las er mit ganz besonderem Behagen. Das war ihm noch lieber als das Klavierspiel, darum ließ er sich sonnabends nichts vorspielen. Ein Detektivroman, nicht wahr, wie sie so durch Kolporteure kommen - sie kommen gewöhnlich auf der anderen Seite der Treppe, nicht durchs Vorderhaus! Wie gesagt, es ist das nicht vorgebracht, um über jemanden zu schimpfen, sondern um zu zeigen, wie diese unsere Zeit beschaffen ist. Und wir müssen doch bedenken: Diese Autoritäten stehen hinter den Laboratoriumstischen, hinter den Seziertischen, von diesem Geiste beseelt ist schließlich dasjenige, was ja selbstverständlich äußerlich verdienstvoll sein kann, was aber dazu führen muß, daß allmählich unsere ganze Kultur, nicht nur unsere geistige, sondern unsere ganze Kultur, in Technizismus, das heißt in Homunkulismus übergeht. Diese Gefahr muß man erkennen, und man muß aus dieser Erkenntnis heraus versuchen, die Wege zu finden, durch die der Geist an die Menschen herankommen kann. Wirklich nicht aus subjektiver Voreingenommenheit für die Geisteswissenschaft, sondern aus der Erkenntnis ihrer notwendigen Bedeutung für die Gegenwart sind die Dinge gesagt, die im Laufe dieses Winters gerade hier gesagt worden sind, von denen ich glaube, daß es gut ist, wenn sie in einige Seelen eindringen.
Der nächste Dienstag könnte uns wohl noch hier zusammenführen, denn das Buch wird wohl noch acht Tage in Anspruch nehmen.
Blood and nerves
In spiritual science, we regard everything material, everything physical, as a manifestation of the spiritual. However, it is always a question of how this or that physical thing is to be regarded as a manifestation of the spiritual. For the general statement that everything physical is a manifestation of the spiritual says nothing, at most it is a facile philosophy for those who are content with easy answers. For those who seriously strive for knowledge, it is always a matter of recognizing in each individual material thing that appears in the world how it is a manifestation of the spiritual. Now we know that an ancient but nevertheless ever new statement calls human beings a microcosm. Human beings first appear to us as material phenomena here in the physical world, And if we take seriously this statement about man as a microcosm, as a material being who, as he appears to us, contains the secrets of the entire cosmos, then it must be particularly valuable to us to examine precisely this material being, as which man first appears to us in the physical world, to see to what extent he is a revelation of the spiritual. And when one considers the material nature of the human being, it becomes apparent to anyone who thinks—and one must think if one strives for knowledge—that there are two completely different types of matter present in the human material being. Even ordinary thinking observation shows that there are two different types of matter, for these two, let us say, types of matter appear fundamentally different in the human material being: the blood substance, the blood matter, and the nerve matter. Certainly, you may say that there are all kinds of other substances for external observation: muscle matter, bone matter, and so on. But you may know that these are all basically formed from the blood. And when you get to know them more closely, you also learn how they arise from the blood, and this does not contradict the fact that in human material nature we are dealing with blood substance, blood substance, and nerve substance.
Insofar as you need only consider how everything that belongs to the blood participates, as it were, from within in the material processes of the human organism, you can already find a difference between blood substance and nerve substance in your thinking. Blood is produced by external influences, but it is produced within the human being, and it in turn produces what is necessary for the material existence of the human being. In contrast, the most important nerves appear to you as continuations of the senses. If you take the eye, for example, you will find, going backwards, the continuation of the eye in the optic nerve, which then sinks into the wider nervous substance of the brain. And so, basically, all nerves are, in a sense, continuations of the sense organs. The processes that take place in them occur more or less through external influences, through what acts on the human being from outside. One could say that just as we have two magnetic poles in the external world, just as we have positive and negative electricity, so we really have two poles of the human physical being in the blood substance and in the nerve substance. And these two types of substance, blood substance and nerve substance, are very, very different internally. However, when one examines the human being on the dissecting table according to the methods of modern anatomy and physiology, one neatly places side by side that which comes directly from the blood and that which receives its structure from outside, the nerve substance; and substance appears next to substance. But they are fundamentally different from each other. And if we follow life as it gradually develops, then the great, significant difference between blood substance and nerve substance becomes apparent, and we could cite many examples from the most modern anatomy and physiology if we wanted to explain this difference, this polar opposition, in more detail. But we will refrain from doing so now. We want to focus more on the spiritual-scientific side of the question.
Blood—I am speaking of human blood—presents itself to us as something that has entered the human organism through processes that are specifically earthly processes. Blood is entirely an earthly entity. You know that long, long before the earth existed, human beings were prepared through their existence on Saturn, the sun, and the moon. Blood does not yet contain everything that was prepared during this time. The blood as it flows through our veins today as human blood has been added through the earthly organization. On the other hand, the construction, the entire formation and development of the nervous system contains that which has been prepared long, long ago through the Saturn, Sun, and Moon processes, through the preliminary processes of our earthly organization.
When someone who studies this matter from a spiritual scientific point of view looks at the blood substance on the one hand and the nerve substance on the other, a tremendous difference between the two substances becomes apparent. The nerve substance is entirely that which is not earthly in the human being. The blood substance is entirely that which is earthly in the human being. The nerve substance has its origin, its process origin, entirely in processes that took place before the formation of the Earth. The blood substance, with everything that flows and weaves within it, has its origin entirely in earthly processes. One could say that our nervous substance is such that it is actually not at all of this earth; it is woven into us as something cosmic, something extraterrestrial; it is related to the cosmos. Blood is entirely related to the earthly. But now our nervous substance has been transferred into the earthly realm; it exists here in the earthly realm, because we humans, as material beings, walk around on the physical earth. We all carry something within our nervous substance that is actually of extraterrestrial origin and has been transferred to the earth. This is an extraordinarily important fact. For our nervous substance is actually dead as it lies within us. Therefore, you only need to open any ordinary book on physiology or anatomy and you will see that the nervous substance, as a substance, is the most durable thing in the human being, the most unchangeable, that which, in the same way as the blood substance, is least subject to direct mechanical, external influences. It is subject to the influences of sensory perceptions, but not to direct mechanical influences. All this comes from the fact that our nervous substance is, in its origin, a living substance; but because we carry it within us as earthly human beings, it is dead. One could say—if it were not paradoxical, but it is, even though it is paradoxical, correct in a spiritual sense—that if one could take nervous substance and carry it up to where the earthly forces no longer have any effect, nervous substance would be a wonderfully living, vibrating being! This nervous substance is, in a sense, designed for life in heaven, in everything extraterrestrial, and it dies to the degree of deadness in which it is in our organism, because it is brought into the sphere of the earthly. This is something most remarkable. We carry within us this nervous substance, which is actually cosmically alive and only earthly dead. As I said, if you took a piece of nervous substance and carried it up to where the earth no longer has any effect, you would have a wonderful, living, luminous substance that would immediately revert to the quiet, lifeless state in which it exists within us when it is brought into the earthly sphere. So in our nervous substance we are dealing with something that is cosmically alive and earthly dead.
We actually carry something extraterrestrial within us in our nervous substance. This is also expressed very well symbolically. Some of you may remember that I once gave a lecture here on anthroposophy in the narrower sense. I listed the human senses. Usually only five senses are distinguished; at that time we listed twelve. Human beings have twelve senses if you really list everything that can be called a sense. And senses are ultimately nothing other than what the nerves go to, or rather, what the nerves originate from and extend inward, so that we basically have twelve senses, and from the twelve senses, the nerves extend inward like little trees. This is because our nervous system, insofar as it belongs to the outer senses, expresses something heavenly: the passage of the sun through the twelve constellations. This relationship between the passage of the sun through the twelve constellations is symbolic, but it is expressed in a real symbolic way in the relationship between our entire nervous system and the twelve individual senses. From this you can see that we really carry within ourselves, spatially, in the relationship of our entire nervous system to the twelve senses, that which is cosmically present outside in the passage of the sun through the twelve constellations. And again, if you take the more inwardly located nervous system, which belongs to the spinal cord, we have rings superimposed on each other in the spine, and the nerve cord passes through them. These rings really correspond to the months, the course of the moon around the earth, so that in this passage of a nerve to a hole in the ring of the spine there is always something that corresponds to one day in the month. Again, a heavenly relationship! The relationship of the moon's course around the earth is expressed in a real-symbolic way in what we carry within us as the relationship of our inner nerves to the spinal cord. Insofar as we are made up of nerve substance, we are entirely built from the heavens, from the cosmos outside, and only those who can perceive in it a reflection of the entire starry sky can truly understand this wonderful arrangement of nerve substance within us. Human beings truly carry within themselves a reflection of the entire starry sky in the tree-like arrangement of their nervous substance, and those forces that flow outside from star to star, expressing themselves in the cycle of the heavens, truly flow, but dead and stored within us, in our nervous system. And just as we can see in so many things how the whole universe is expressed in human beings, so we can also see it in this connection between the structure of the entire cosmos outside the earth and our nervous system. If we can say that the nervous system is built for the heavens, then it is built alive for the heavens and is dead within us because it is in the sphere of the earth.
We have to say something completely different about our blood substance. It is entirely earthly, and the processes that take place in the blood should, according to the inner constitution of the entire blood system, actually be only earthly processes. But the peculiarity of earthly processes is that they are not alive. The mineral kingdom, as we know, is that which has come into being on earth, the lifeless kingdom. And the element of blood corresponds entirely to this lifeless kingdom within us. This blood lives as long as it is within us, but it is not destined for life by its inner earthly nature; that is what is peculiar about it. Rather, it receives its life through its connection with that which is extraterrestrial in the human being. While the nervous system is actually destined for life in the cosmos outside, extraterrestrially, and is dead within us, the blood is destined to be dead within us and receives life from outside. The nervous system, in a sense, gives its life to the blood, and thus the nervous system is relatively dead, while the blood is relatively alive. Just as the nervous system has cosmic life and earthly death, so the blood, conversely, has earthly death and borrowed cosmic life imposed upon it. Life does not originate from our earth at all. Therefore, the nervous system must, in a sense, take on death in order to become earthly, and the blood must become alive so that human beings, insofar as they are earthly substances, can turn toward the extraterrestrial world.
But here, I would say, what we have always had to take in through spiritual science becomes quite serious. For we must actually say: we carry within us the nerve substance, which is destined for life through its own essence, but it is dead. Why is it dead? Because it has been transferred to the earth. Death — you only need to read about this in a series of lectures I once gave in Munich — is actually the realm of Ahriman. Thus, in our nervous system, which is killed by the earthly sphere, we carry the Ahrimanic within us. And in the blood, in that it is made alive while it is destined by its own nature to die, that is, to mere chemical and physical processes, we carry the Luciferic within us. Because the nervous system is dead, Ahriman can be within us; because the blood is alive, Lucifer can be within us. You can now see how significantly these two substances differ from each other, how they relate to each other like the north and south poles.
Now let us look out in our minds into the extraterrestrial world and turn what we recognize through spiritual science not into an abstract theory, but into something living that can grasp our feelings and perceptions. Then we look up into outer space, into the extraterrestrial, and say to ourselves: Out there is the spirit that could actually live in our nervous system if our nervous system had not come down to Earth. Out there is the spirit, we sense it, filling the universe, the spirit that belongs to our nervous system. And again, by directing our thoughts to our blood, we say to ourselves: We carry this blood within us, it is actually determined by its own nature to be merely physical and chemical processes, merely to be transformed by oxygen in the way you can find described in anatomy and physiology. But because it lives within us, it participates in the life of the universe. But it is initially Luciferic life.
And now, my dear friends, let us remember very deeply, very thoroughly in our feelings and perceptions, many things that have run like a thread through many of our reflections. Let us remember everything we have said about the descent of Christ from the world spheres into our earthly sphere, and we will be able to connect what comes up in our memory with the thoughts that have just been expressed. We originate from this universe, from this cosmos. Once, in the Lemurian epoch, we descended, or rather, in the course of Earth's evolution we descended and linked our development to the Earth. But in entrusting our nervous system to the development of the Earth, we entrusted it to death, and we left its life above. This life that we left behind is the same life that later came into being in the Christ being. The life of our nerves, which we do not carry within us, which we could not carry within us from the beginning of our earthly existence, came into being in the Christ being. And what did it have to take hold of in earthly existence? It had to take hold of the blood! Hence the many references to the mystery of the blood. That which is separated within us, in that the nervous system lost its cosmic life and the blood received a cosmic life, so that life became death and death became life, achieved a new connection through that which does not live in our earthly nervous system descended from the cosmos to us, became human, entered into the blood, but the blood united with the earth, as I have explained in earlier lectures. And we as human beings can, through participation in the Christ mystery, balance the polar opposition between our nervous system and our blood system.
You see, human beings carry this opposition within themselves, and this opposition expresses itself in many different ways. For example, there is an external science that has now, in a sense, found its conclusion, its goal, in natural science. Natural science speaks of the world as being made up of atoms. These atoms, of which natural science speaks, are pure fantasy. They are nowhere to be found outside of us. But why does man speak of atoms? Because he has built his nervous system out of tiny globules, and he projects this outwards. The atomistic world outside is nothing more than the projected nervous system. Man himself projects himself out into the world, imagines it to be composed of atoms, his nervous system itself composed of individual ganglion globules. That is why science will always want to be atomistic, because it comes from the nervous substance. Opposite science stands everything that is mysticism, religion, and so on, everything that comes from the blood. That does not want atomism; it wants to see unity everywhere. These two opposites are in conflict in the world. One is only enlightened about this conflict when one knows that it is the inner conflict in human nature between nervous substance and blood substance. There would be no conflict in the world between science and religion if there were not a conflict in human nature between nervous substance and blood substance.
The balance is found by uniting in the right way with that which has been pulsating through the earth as the Christ being since the Mystery of Golgotha. Every feeling, every experience we can have in connection with this Mystery of Golgotha contributes to this balance. People today are not yet very far along in this process of balance, but the striving must go in that direction. We ourselves in our circle very often find how the contrast I have described manifests itself in one direction or the other. Many among us listen to the teachings of anthroposophy and take them as an external science, so that in the minds of many, anthroposophy is, in a sense, no different from external science. But anthroposophy is only truly understood when it is not merely grasped with the head, but when it inspires enthusiasm in us in all its expressions, when it lives in us in such a way that it finds its way from the nervous system to the blood system. Only when we can warm ourselves to the truths contained in anthroposophy do we understand them. As long as we grasp them only abstractly, studying them as if they were a set of rules, a arithmetic book, a service regulations, or a cookbook, we do not understand them. Nor do we understand them if we study anthroposophy as we study chemistry or botany. We understand it only when it warms us, when it fills us with the life that reigns within it. Christ once said, “I am with you until the end of the world.” And he is not merely dead; he is alive among us and reveals himself constantly. Only those who are so short-sighted that they fear these revelations say that we should stick to what has always been true. But those who are not cowardly know that Christ always reveals himself. That is why we can accept what he reveals as anthroposophy as a true revelation of Christ. Often, my dear friends, our members ask me: How do I connect with Christ? That is a naive question! For everything we can strive for, every line we read from our anthroposophical science, is a way of relating to Christ. In a sense, we do nothing else. And those who seek a special way of relating to Christ are merely expressing naively that they would like to avoid the somewhat uncomfortable path of studying or reading something.
But you can see something else from this observation. This observation began, I would say, in a very external, scientific, anatomical, physiological way. We started from a material observation of the human being, and now we find the transition to the highest knowledge that can be offered to human beings on earth: to Christology. No other science can give you this transition. Spiritual science shows you how our nervous substance has lost something by becoming earthly substance. But where is what our nervous substance has lost? When Jesus of Nazareth was thirty years old, Christ entered the body of Jesus of Nazareth and went through the Mystery of Golgotha! Just try to warm yourself up with this thought. That which, because we are earthly human beings, is lacking in our nervous system, which is filled only with Ahrimanic elements, confronts us in the mystery of Golgotha, and it is our human task to take it into our blood in order to Christianize the Luciferic in the blood, to shape our enthusiasm so that it lives within us. For everything we can think in abstract thoughts is bound to nerve substance, everything that lives in us as feeling, as mind, as enthusiasm, as mood, is bound to the blood. Just as in the organism there is a relationship between nerve substance and blood substance, so in the soul there is a relationship between thinking, which proceeds in abstractions, in cold thoughts, as they say, and the enthusiasm into which we can be transported when things do not remain cold thoughts for us, when we can be warmed by the spirit, which we must, of course, first educate ourselves to do in life.
And now, I would like to look spiritually and physiologically into what took place with the Mystery of Golgotha. What man left behind has followed him, and it will again permeate his soul, because it should not have permeated his body at the beginning of his earthly activity. If it had permeated him at the beginning of his earthly activity, it would have passed through his body, and he would have become an automaton of the spirit. But in this way, he first completed his development for a time in the course of his earthly life, and only then was he to be imbued with what was not meant to pass through his body from the beginning. This is the great, wonderful connection that shows us the effectiveness of the spiritual down to the material, not only of the general spiritual, of which vague pantheism so readily speaks, but of the concrete spiritual that we see passing through the mystery of Golgotha. That is what I meant when I said that the general truth, “All matter is a revelation of the spirit,” does not say anything special. We only gain knowledge when we know specifically how the spiritual can reveal itself in individual material existence. You see, if we take what external science offers us today, we find a whole wealth of things lying there as material, waiting to be permeated by spiritual understanding. They can be so strongly permeated by spiritual understanding that even the most material science will be connected with Christology. But we live in an age in which it is difficult for people to find the path that connects, so to speak, the nervous system and the blood system.
That is why I have shown you through a series of reflections how far our time is from such a spiritual conception of the world. Just now, I showed you with a special example how even someone someone who has strived for the spiritual, Hermann Bahr, has only succeeded in achieving the most elementary approach to the spirit after reaching the age of fifty, while grotesque phenomena dominate our spiritual life, as exemplified by that philosophy professor in Czernowitz, whose statement I read to you. So that we do not forget it, I will read this statement to you again: “We have no more philosophy than an animal, and only our frantic attempts to arrive at a philosophy and our final resignation to ignorance distinguish us from animals.” That is the quintessence of this philosophy, but you cannot call it philosophy, because “man has no more philosophy than an animal,” according to this philosophy professor. This means that we have reached the point today where there are professors of philosophy whose job it is to present philosophy as ridiculous nonsense. Here you can see when someone goes that far. Most other philosophers do the same, but they don't let it show. And the truth applies not only to philosophers, but also to other people who understand as much about their job as this philosopher understands about his philosophy, who ruin as much of what they are employed to do as this philosopher ruins philosophy. But otherwise you don't notice it unless it's presented to you so cynically, as this philosopher, Richard Wahle, employed as a professor of philosophy to destroy philosophy, does.
That is why it is necessary—you only need to recall a lecture I gave here a few weeks ago to see the necessity—to tie in a little with the period of European intellectual life when attempts were made, albeit not yet with the means of today's humanities, to come closer to the spirit. For this reason, I gave the lectures of the past winter, especially in these difficult times, and have now summarized them in the book that will soon be completed, “The Mystery of Man,” which summarizes the thinking, seeing, and feeling of a number of 19th-century minds who were still striving for the spiritual, albeit not yet with the means of today's spiritual science. But I have tried to show in this book how these spirits strove toward the spirit, even if they could not yet reach it. It remains to be seen whether this book, Vom Menschenrätsel, which summarizes the lectures of last winter, will be too difficult for some people, even though it is written as simply as possible, and whether they will decide not to buy it, which is less important. The important thing is to read it! It will remain to be seen whether this book, which was truly written to serve the times, will have an effect, whether it will penetrate souls. It is a book that can be used by everyone to prove, as it were, to those outside our circle that spiritual science stands as a demand of the best minds of the immediate past, that it is not something that springs from a certain arbitrariness, but is truly a demand of the best minds.
And so I would like to suggest that people read some of the great and significant works that were brought to light in such a beautiful spiritual way by the spirits of the West during the 19th century. But all these endeavors are very strange. Among the greatest—I have pointed this out in another context, and it was not necessary to return to it in this book—are Schiller's philosophical writings, for example, the letters “On the Aesthetic Education of Man.” It can be said that anyone who has read them with inner involvement has done an extraordinary amount for the life of their soul. Various people have made an effort to draw people's attention to Schiller's philosophical writings. Deinhardt was one such person, Heinrich Deinhardt, who lived in Vienna. He wrote a beautiful, extraordinarily witty little book about Schiller's worldview in the 1860s. I don't think you can get it anywhere; it has long since been pulped, except perhaps for a lost antiquarian copy, because what Deinhardt wrote about Schiller is among the best that has ever been written about Schiller, and no one has read it! But the man was a forgotten teacher in Vienna who had the misfortune of breaking his leg once, and despite careful treatment, he was unable to recover because he was so poorly nourished. The man wrote one of the best books about Schiller, a book that is certainly better than all the numerous nonsense writings that were written about Schiller later; but he had to starve to death. That's just how it is.
With this book of mine, I would like to make another attempt to bring spirits such as Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, Troxler, Planck, Preuß, Immanuel Hermann Fichte, and a few others back to life in our present day. What they contain is a completely different kind of food for the soul than what people today so often seek, seeking honestly but misguidedly. How painful it was to see time and again how people searching honestly turned to this or that in order to find nourishment for their souls, in order to find a way into the spiritual world. If they had turned to writings such as Schelling's “Clara” or “Bruno,” they could have gained infinite nourishment for the soul—admittedly with some effort, but that effort is worthwhile! A certain naive soul-searching has become increasingly lively in recent times, but the highest to which people have aspired in wider circles is something like the soul sauce of Ralph Waldo Trine or the like, or that spiritual soul sauce that arises when one embellishes some form of Buddhism or Brahmanism or the like with a sauce. One could have had the strangest experiences there. I knew a very dear person — he died recently here in Berlin — who, when I first published the writings I had dedicated to the interpretation of Goethe, was enthusiastic about them at the time. Then he grew older and now – you can see that his enthusiasm was just a flash in the pan – he has recently translated a whole lot of such soul sauce works, not exactly Ralph Waldo Trine, but others from American English into German. For a long time, American English soul food was needed here in Europe.
Let us just feel what needs to be done to respond to this feeling. In these writings and also in the little book that is already here, “The Task of Spiritual Science,” I tried to show what can be given to those outside our circle. Of course, this particular book, “The Task of Spiritual Science,” can be given to people outside our circle, and it will become clear whether there is an understanding of what is the task of those who comprehend the necessity of incorporating spiritual scientific truths into our present time. Over time, I have not merely uttered this or that disparaging remark that I have addressed to you in these difficult times, but I have explained my reasons, given detailed accounts, and provided evidence for this or that. I have not merely told you that philosophers are homunculi, but I have quoted a particularly characteristic saying just last time, and many other things besides, in order to give you an idea of how things stand and how, in this first third of our fifth post-Atlantean era, everything is tending toward homunculism, toward spiritual emptiness. We will have to see more and more clearly what you will find explained in the new book: the difference between a merely correct, logically correct concept and a concept that corresponds to reality. A logically correct concept does not necessarily correspond to reality. And I tried to work out in particular what thinking that corresponds to reality is. So much misery in our mental life is based on the belief that if people can think something logically, then it is also true. But thinking that is true is something different from thinking that is merely correct. If you see a tree trunk lying here, it is an external reality. When you think about it, this tree trunk is not reality, because it cannot exist as such. It must have the shoots within it that develop into branches, leaves, and flowers. It is a real lie, a “real unreality,” because the image it presents to you cannot be there. Only those who feel when they think of a tree trunk as something unreal are thinking in accordance with reality. And so most of today's sciences consist of thoughts about unrealities. Geology today thinks of the earth as purely mineral. But this mineral aspect of the earth does not exist at all, it does not exist in itself, any more than a tree trunk exists in itself; for the mineral realm of the earth already contains plants, animals, and humans within itself, and only when one thinks of the latter as combined with the mineral does one think of a reality. Geology is a completely unreal science.
That is one peculiarity of this book, that I have attempted to work out the concept of reality. The other peculiarity is that I wanted to give at least the initial points of view of an imaginative thinking to which human beings will have to develop. You will find all kinds of comparisons in the book that is about to appear, in that it does not proceed with abstract logical developments of concepts, but rather says: If, for example, someone thinks in terms of an atomistic, scientific worldview, it is as if they were demanding that what science thinks be real, as if they believed that when they paint a person, the painted person can walk around. This book attempts to proceed in such pictorial representations. And we will see whether this peculiar style is noticed. A start has been made with a special kind of presentation that is not easily found elsewhere at present.
But one must be quite clear about how far removed the present is from an unbiased acceptance of these things. The present—I have said this often—is as credulous of authority as anything can be. It does not look at what lies behind the authorities, so to speak. Today, authorities are measured by the titles and offices they hold, but what lies behind them is what really matters. I would like to give you a nice example, which was told recently, of how far homunculism has already progressed in our time, how far thinking in pure outward appearances has progressed. A man, who is quite nice and well-meaning—he is against homunculism, even if he does not know what to put in its place—gives an interesting example of what the homunculi of our time consider to be truly great and significant. There are already many today who worship technology as their god; I gave you some specific examples here a few weeks ago. But as proof of how powerful the belief in the divinity of technology already was, let me cite the following monstrosity, the monstrous statement of a serious man of mature age, a doctor and family man who—we are told—does not excel or delve deeply in anything, and who therefore has all the prerequisites for making a judgment of the solid kind that comes from common sense. When the world of newspapers was thrown into a state of deep amazement before the war by the daring flight of the French aviator Pégoud, this man, who thus gave a judgment entirely in keeping with the spirit of the times, for he is a “doctor, family man, and outstanding in nothing,” and therefore has all the prerequisites for sound and healthy common sense, spoke very seriously and with firm pathos about the cultural value of the flying machine: “One screw from Pégoud's flying machine is more important than all the philosophy of Kant and Schiller, and if you like, than all the philosophies of all time.” Do not think that this is such a rare statement! It is already the prevailing attitude today, and one that is becoming more and more prevalent.
Observations had long been made in this area. More than twenty years ago, I had given a series of public lectures when a lady invited me to give a lecture on Goethe in her salon. I did so at the time, as she had gathered a large audience from her circle. I spoke about Goethe's Faust and some of his other dramas. The women were fine, but most of the men said: “That's not drama, that's science, Faust!” They believed that theater was for seeing Blumenthal, not Goethe's Faust. Yes, it is true that in the present day we are heading toward things that ultimately culminate in judgments such as the one I have just read to you. You see, things happen quickly these days. Take these memoirs, for example—not written by the author himself, but transcribed by someone else, so you can't really call them memoirs—published by a recently deceased, widely renowned natural scientist. It is interesting to consider one of the statements made by this world-famous man—I don't even want to mention his name, you would be amazed at how famous he was—to reflect on it. As I said, this man was one of the most famous people of his time, a great expert in his field, and of course no one would dispute his greatness. But one of his sayings is: “Philosophy is none of my business. I don't care whether the sun moves around the earth or the earth moves around the sun. That would only interest me if I were an astronomer.” — This is a man who has given the world a medical preparation that everyone is talking about, who has concerned himself with nothing but this narrow circle, and who calmly admits that he is not interested in whether the earth revolves around the sun or the sun revolves around the earth; he would only concern himself with that if he were an astronomer. It is the same man—I am truly not interested in denigrating or criticizing anyone, for he is undoubtedly a man of justified fame in his field—who had piano music played for him in the evenings, but understood music in such a way that it “drained” him and thus better concentrate his thoughts, so that one actually hears nothing of it. So every evening he had his wife play music for him on the piano. He understood nothing of it, it was just pleasant for him to be abstracted in this way. Only on Saturdays did he not have music played for him, because then he was waiting for something more important. That was when the thing he was particularly eagerly awaiting arrived: a detective novel, a very gruesome one with a terrifying cover. And he read it with particular pleasure. He liked that even more than playing the piano, which is why he didn't let anyone play for him on Saturdays. A detective novel, you know, the kind that come through the newsagents—they usually come up the back stairs, not through the front door! As I said, I'm not bringing this up to criticize anyone, but to show what our times are like. And we must remember: these authorities stand behind the laboratory tables, behind the dissecting tables; this spirit ultimately animates that which may, of course, be outwardly commendable, but which must inevitably lead to our entire culture, not only our intellectual culture, but our entire culture, gradually degenerating into technicism, that is, into homunculism. We must recognize this danger, and based on this recognition, we must try to find ways in which the spirit can reach people. The things that have been said here this winter, which I believe it is good for some souls to hear, have been said not out of subjective bias toward the humanities, but out of recognition of their necessary significance for the present.
Next Tuesday we may well be here together again, for the book will probably take another eight days.